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Heinrich Christian Schumacher - Astronomer and Geodesist

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Heinrich Christian Schumacher - Astronomer and Geodesist Heinrich Christian Schumacher - astronomer and geodesist Tõnu Viik 1. Background On September 3, 2010 there was 230 years from the birth of famous Danish- German astronomer Heinrich Christian Schumacher (further Schumacher). He was born in a small town of Bramstedt, located in Holstein which belonged to Denmark at that time. His father Andreas Schumacher was Amtmann in Segeberg, representing the government in the region. Andreas Schumacher Schumacher's father who was the son of Paul Gerhard Schumacher, the accountant of the Copenhagen insurance company, was extremely well 1 Heinrich Christian Schumacher (Christian Albert Jenseni maal, 1839) educated, was endowed with a good literary gift and made a quick and brilliant career. While he was working in the German office in Copenhagen, the Danish minister of foreign affairs Johann Hartwig Ernst Count von Bernstorff (later Prime minister) put an eye on him. Andreas Schumacher rose quickly to post of the Danish Embassy secretary in St Petersburg, not without the help of the Count but he lost the post as quickly when Johann Friedrich Struensee - the doctor of psychically unstable King Christian VII started to intrigue against him. He remained secretary of the King's cabinet, a position which required special tact from him. He accompanied the King during his trip to England when Andreas Schumacher received the title of "doctor honoris causa" from Cambridge University. After Struensee has exercised quasi-full power in Denmark for ten months - he 2 was the lover of Queen Caroline Matilda (the danish people called Johann Georg Repsold princess Louise Augusta, born in 1771, "the little Struensee") the Danish aristocracy lost their patience: Struensee was arrested and put to death. For some time Andreas Schumacher was given back his post but then he was sent to Segeberg as Amtmann. Schumacher's father had married the 27-year-old widow of Oldenburg- Bentinck court councillor Johann Wilhelm Büsching - Sophia Hedevig Rebecca (neé Weddi). They had two sons, the first was Heinrich Christian Schumacher, born on September 3rd, 1780 and then Andreas Anton Friedrich who became a Captain in the Danish army and commander of its artillery and even made some inventions in ballistics but who died at the age of 41. Schumacher's brother had a son Christian Andreas and Schumacher sent him to study at the workshop of the German astronomer and precision mechanic Johann Georg Repsold for three years. Christian Andreas also became an officer in the Danish army and later participated in the Danish geodetic measurements; then he was active in Pulkovo for some time, took also part in the I Schleswig war and died at the age of 44. 3 Schumacher himself wrote later that when he was seven years old he was introduced to the Duke of Holstein and to the Crown prince of Denmark who later became King Frederick VI. Evidently the Prince was very impressed since he remained Schumacher's protector up to his death in 1839 2. Studies The boys' father died when they were respectively 9 and 8 years old. The father had taken care of their primary education and he had entrusted them to pastor Johann Friedrich August Dörfer, bearer of the order of Dannebrog who had gained fame by participating in the land survey of Schleswig-Holstein. Schumacher was thankful to him throughout his life. Since pastor Dörfer had been assigned to a church in Altona, the connection between him and the Schumacher family must have been the reason why the mother together with her sons moved to Altona, too. The boys began to study at the Christianeum gymnasium. That was the school where Jacob Struve - the father of Wilhelm Struve - started to teach in 1791 and became its principal three years later. Since Schumacher's father had been a lawyer, the same profession was projected also for him and from 1799 to 1804 he read law partly at Kiel, partly at Göttingren universities. In Göttingen he obtained his PhD degree and although he even published some papers in law, e.g. “Disputationum juridicarum specimen” and “De servis publicis populi Romani” in 1806, he started to devote himself to mathematics. Nevertheless he accepted the post of law Dozent at Tartu (then Dorpat) university. Before that he had worked as a tutor in the family of Alexander Magnus von Meiners - the owner of the Laatre (then Fölk) knight manor and the assessor of the civil department. This activity ended in a very sad way for Schumacher since he was accustomed to bring along his shotgun during his walks. On such an occasion he accidentally shot at his master's thatched haybarn which burnt down to ashes. What led Schumacher to accept a post at an university of a foreign country? In order to answer this question we have to go back in the past. At the time 4 when Jacob Struve went to study at Göttingen university, Christian Gottlob Heyne was the teaching retorics and other classical disciplines there. Beside Jacob, his favourite student was Adam Christian Gaspari who came to Tartu in 1803 where he was elected as professor of history, geography and statistics (later also he became the rector of the university). He was the man who recommended Jakob's elder son Karl Ludwig to become a tutor and private Dozent in Tartu in 1805. Besides, Gaspari had married the niece of Jacob's wife Maria Emerentia. Since Jacob had helped Schumacher to emigrate, then this was evidently one of the reasons why Schumacher and Wilhelm Struve became friends. In Tartu professor of mathematics and astronomy Johann Wilhelm Andreas Pfaff and extraordinary professor of astronomy Ernst Christoph Friedrich Knorre convinced Schumacher to practise mathematics and astronomy. But there were many reasons why Schumacher did not actually start his work at the university as law Dozent. And then the king of Denmark Christian VII who had not forgotten Schumacher called him back to Copenhagen to work at the Rentenkammer (state treasury) in 1807. 3. Work begins Because of an attack of the British navy against Copenhagen, Schumacher could not take the post had been given. However, he was given a promise that the chair of astronomy at the Copenhagen university was kept free for him. Schumacher went back to Altona and started to translate Carnot's “Géometrie de position”. This period includes two very important events in Schumacher's life - he got acquainted with the chief of Hamburg fire brigade and keen amateur astronomer Johann Georg Repsold and he started corresponding with the director of Göttingen observatory, the "king of mathematicians", Carl Friedrich Gauss. On the instigation of the privy state minister Christian Ditlev Frederik Count Reventlow and politician Ernst Heinrich von Schimmelmann, the king gave Schumacher 600 thalers so he could study astronomy for one year. 5 Carl Friedrich Gauss Schumacher wrote immediately about it to Gauss, asking his permission to come for his studies to Göttingen. Gauss gave gladly his consent. In 1808 Schumacher went to Göttingen to study astronomy under Gauss who in the first place arousedhis interest in geodesy. His studies lasted until 1809; then all his money had been spent but the king refused to grant him another allowance. Schumacher together with Gauss went on a trip around the European observatories. They visited Paris, after that Bremen where they met Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers. Later they went to Lilienthal to visit the observatory of Johann Hieronymus Schröter, where Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel was working. This trip was extremely important since Schumacher made the acquaintance of almost all renowned astronomers in Europe at that time. After this trip the Schumacher's undefined situation continued, until in 1810 he was informed that the position of extraordinary professor of astronomy at Copenhagen University was free for him. Regrettably he could not go there since professor of astronomy Thomas Bugge expressed clearly his wish to 6 have nobody at his side. Triangulation net in Denmark Nothing was left to Schumacher but the post of observer at the Repsold observatory in Hamburg where he started a three-year programme of observation of circumpolar stars with the meridian circle. This matched excellently with the fact that Repsold himself was more and more engaged in building astronomical instruments. In Hamburg Schumacher obtained a flat at Herrengraber 12, which was nicely located close to the observatory at Millerntor. Though Schumacher and Repsold had different characters, they soon became friends so that when Repsold perished during extinguishing a fire in January 1830 Schumacher acted as foster-father for his sons. 7 4. Geodetical activities Observations lasted up to 1811 when the French occupational forces started to reinforce the Hamburg wall so that the Albertus bastion where the Repsold observatory was located, had to be demolished for the French wanted to build a new fortification. Thus Schumacher lost his job and tried to find a new one at the planned Norwegian university which included the project of an observatory. Perhaps for the fact that he proposed to found the observatory in Königsberg, he did not get the job. Schumacher was very glad when Gauss found him the post of director at the Mannheim observatory. Copenhagen allowed him to go there only on one condition - that he should return immediately after Thomas Bugge's death. Schumacher travelled to Mannheim together with his mother and wife. The Mannheim observatory founded by Prince elector Carl Theodor in 1772 was in a sad condition but Schumacher arranged the situation in such a way that he could start his observations. But his directorship ended after two years when Copenhagen informed him that Bugge had died. In July 1815 Schumacher went to Copenhagen. The observatory in Copenhagen - the so- called Round Tower or in Danish "Rundetårn" was in a sad condition, too, as Schumacher wrote “eine der erbärmlichsten Europas”.
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